Cape Town - A widow from Mitchells Plain says she is at her wits’ end and is struggling to make ends meet while a R600 000 water bill from the City hangs over her head.
Cynthia Mentoor, who is a resident in Colorado, said this follows a water leak that was detected on municipal property adjacent to hers, two years ago.
Despite the water leak being repaired, Mentoor said she was expected to pay monthly instalments of R7 000 every month, adding that the hefty bill also affected her electricity tariff.
“In 2021 I went to the municipal office to report a leak. The municipality came to my home to investigate the issue and they found out that the water leak was outside the property.
Shortly after that, my water bill increased and because of the water bill that increased, they also deducted money on my account for electricity. It has been a struggle trying to fix this problem, it has been unbearable,” she said.
Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa (Icosa) leader in the Cape Metro, Ivan Jones, said Mentoor had reached out to them after struggling to get assistance from he City.
“Miss Mentoor requested our help in 2021 because she wanted this issue to be resolved.
“Because our motto is ‘the voice of the voiceless’, we stepped in as Icosa and tried to figure out how we can assist her.
“This situation has put the widow in so much trauma that she can’t function right.
“Miss Mentoor gets a bill for R600 000 and there is no one who can explain how this came about.
“It makes us wonder how many other widows are currently sitting in the same position. It is frustrating that this is how the City of Cape Town treats our people,” said Jones.
In response, the City said the rates and services account debt of about R600 000 was caused by high water consumption.
“The resident has rates and services account debt of about R600 000 which is mainly caused by high water consumption and irregular payments on the account.
“If the high water consumption is a result of a leak the City can consider a rebate provided that a plumber’s report is submitted.
“There are indications, looking at the usage, that there was a very high spike in water usage for months.
“Typically, one of the reasons for this would be a leak. If one looks at the account, one can see there was a month where the usage started to return to the normal average. This could likely indicate that there could have been a leak that was fixed by the customer, but this needs to be confirmed by the customer.
“The resident has entered into a payment arrangement to pay off the arrears over an agreed number of months. No interest will be charged for the duration of the arrangement, provided it is honoured.“
The City said it would investigate the matter and see how the resident could be assisted.
Cape Times